Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-04
SWELLING OF JORDAN.
1--WE Become Impatient Under Small
Trials what are We to do When
Greater Trials Come?
The Slab of the Tomb Nothing bnt the
Milestone which Tells Of Infinite
Distance Beyond.


Milestone which Tells of Infinite
Distance Beyond.
Amid tho Pleasures of Life We Rfiec.
,. CHRIST and when Misfortune
T'ias Comes We Repent
Special to the Gazette.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, Feb. 27.-At the Tab
ernacle this morning 8 vast throng rose
to sing the opening doxology:
Praise God from Whom all blessings TOW.
After g brief exposition of Scripture BY
the pastor, the Rev. T. Dewitt Ta!mage,
D. D., and the singing of hymn, Pro-
lessor Henry Eyre Browne rendered an
organ solo, Sonata No. in D minor, by
Guilmant. The subject Of DR.. Talmege's
sermon was, "The Swelling Of Jordan, ~
and his text jeremiah xii, ): "If thou
hast run with the footmen ana they have
wearied thee, then how canst thou con-
tend with horses? And if in the land of
peace, wherein thou trustedst, they
weaFied thee, then how wilt thou do in
the Swellirg of Jordan" The eloquent
preacher said:
Not In petulant but in kindly terms l
musl complain that wrong has been
done ne, and the cause of honest journal
ism, by.a pretended sermon that is going
the rounds of hundreds of papers with
mynRne appended, sermon entitled:
ssTraads Detected;" text, Numbers,
xxxfL %: "But if We will not do so,
behoid, ~ have sinned against the Lord; ;
and be- sase yeur sin will find you OUT
Not one sentence of that pretended
sermon%d did preach. II this were the
only offshse of the kind l would not
speak Of it, Such fraud is not only q
wrong to me but to the gentlemen VINO,
at these tables, Sabbath by Sabbath, take
accurate report of what is said and donesi
and is gross wrong to the 2C00 nsws-
papers which give every week my sermQa
In full to their readers, ar d often at great
expense to themselves. The only faatt l
have. to find with the news,
paper press of this Country
is, that they treat me too we'll. Bat can
not be made responsible for eDSsre Fer
mons, notone word Of which didi preach.
Bus now turn from personal explaua-
ton to the more important subject Of the
text.
jeremiah had become impatient with
his troubles. God says to in: "If you
stand these small trials and perse-
cutions, what are you going 10 do when
the greater trials and prosecutions come:
If you have been running race with foot
men and they have beaten you, what
chance is there that you will outrun
horses?" And then the figure is changed.
You know, in April aud May, the Jordan
oveTfOwS its banks, and the waters rush
on, sweeping everything before
them. And God says to the prophet: '"If
you are overcome with smaller trials and
VeXationS, which have assaulted you, what
will you do when the trials and ANNOYANCE
and prosecutions of life come in q fresh
et:" 'lf in the land of peace wherein
thou trustedst, they Wearied thee, then
how wilt thou do in the swelling O. Jor-
DAM"
propose, il God will help me, in a
very practical way to ask: If it is such q
difficult thing to get along without the
religion of Jesus Christ, when things are
comparatively smooth, what will we do
without Christ amid the overpouring mis-
and disasters of life that may
come upon us? If troub es, slow as foot
men, surpass US, what will we do when
they take the feet of horses? and IL now
in our life time we are beaten back and
of sorrows because we have
not the religion OF Jesus to comfort US,
what will we do when we stand in death
aud we feel all around about US "the
swelling of Jordan?' The fact that you
have come here, my brother, my sister,
shows that you have some things you be-
ieve in common with myself. You
believe that there Is a God
There is not an Atheist in all this house.
do not believe there ever was @ real
Atheist in all the world. Napoleon was
on ships deck bound for Egypt. II
was bright starry night, and as he paced
the deck, thinking CT the great affairs of
The state ana OF battle, he heard two men
On the deck in conversation about God;
one saying there was God and the other
saying there was none. Napoleon stopped
and looked up ut the starry heavens, snd
hen he turned to these men in converse
ion, and said: Gentlemen, | heard one
II you say there is no God; if there is no
GOD, viii you please 10 tell me who made
III that?" Aye, if you had not been per
'uaded Of it before, you are persuaded Of
t now; for the shining heavens declare
he glory of God and the earth shows His
Bat you believe more than
hat; you believe that there was Jesus;
you believe that there was Cross; you
believe that you have an immortal soul;
haliayra hat 10 ~,
he spirit Of God, or you can never
i"ell IN bliss eternal. | think great
many of you will say that you believe it is
important to rave the religion of Jesus
Christ every day of our lite, TO smooth
our tempers and purify our minds, and
lold US imperturable amid all the annoy.
lnce and veXations of life. You and |
lave seen so many men trampled down
~ misfortunes because they had no faith
n Jesus, and you say TO yourself: "If
hey were so easily overcome by the
rials OF life, what will it be when greater
come upon them-heart-
breaking cslamitles, tremendous griefs?"
Oh, if we have no God to comfort US when
Jur fortune goes, and we look upon the
grave or our children, and our houses
ire desolate, what will become of Us?
What sad thing it is to see men al un-
helped of God. going out to fight giants
II trouble; no closet of PRAYER
N which to retreat, no promise of mercy
o soothe the soul, no rock of refuge in
which to hide from the blast. Oh, when !
he swift coursers of trouble are brought
Up, champing and painting for the race, !
md the reins are thrown upon their /.
lecks, and the lathered TANKS st every
pring feel the stroke of the lash, what
:an we d. on foot with them? How can
We compete with them? If, having run
rith tho fOOtnap thev rUaerio6 NC 49,,